The present invention relates to a component mounting apparatus and method for holding a plurality of components of a component supply device by means of a plurality of component holding members and thereafter mounting the components on a body to be mounted of, for example, a board or a component.
Conventionally, there has been known a variety of structures as an apparatus for mounting components on a board. For example, as shown in FIG. 61, there is known a rotary type high-speed mounting apparatus in which a plurality of suction nozzles 501 are supported on a rotary head 500, the suction nozzles 501 hold by suction components one by one from component supply cassettes 502 when each suction nozzle 501 is placed in a component suction position by the high-speed rotation of the rotary head 500, and the components held by suction by the suction nozzles 501 are mounted on a board 503 when each suction nozzle 501 is positioned in a component mounting position by the rotation of the rotary head 500.
However, according to the above-mentioned high-speed mounting apparatus, if the rotating speed of the rotary head 500 is increased, then rotary movements for component posture control around the nozzle axis of the suction nozzles 501 and positioning movements in the XY-directions, or the two directions that are orthogonal to each other for the positioning of the board 503 come to be unable to follow the high rotating speed. Even if the rotating speed is further increased, then a time during which the rotation is stopped for the rotating operation around the axis of rotation of the suction nozzles 501 and the board positioning operation is prolonged, consequently failing in reducing the time of mounting work. In addition, by increasing the rotating speed of the rotary head 500, noises and vibrations are increased, and the issues of a reduction in reliability of the whole equipment, an increase in running cost, and so on are becoming obvious. Furthermore, the component supply cassette 502, which has a weight ranging from 100 kg to more than 200 kg provided with a plurality of component supply cassettes 502, moves forward and backward at high speed in the direction of one axis to the component suction position of the suction nozzles 501. This causes another issue that noises and vibrations are further increased and a design required to take safety into full consideration must be performed. Furthermore, if the component supply cassette 502 is divided into two parts, there is an issue that the occupation area of the equipment becomes large to reduce the productivity per equipment area.
Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to solve the aforementioned issues and provide a component mounting apparatus and method capable of compacting the whole equipment, reducing the noises and vibrations, and increasing the reliability of the equipment.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the present invention is constructed as follows.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus comprising:
a plurality of self-propelled system heads each of which has a component holding member capable of holding a component to be mounted on an object to be mounted and has a self-propelling drive device;
a closed-loop travel track along which the self-propelled heads circulate independently of one another by driving the drive devices of the plurality of self-propelled system heads;
an object positioning device that is arranged in an object positioning section of the travel track and positions the object; and
a component supply device that is arranged in a component supply section of the travel track and contains therein the components, whereby
the plurality of self-propelled system heads are made to independently travel by controlling each of the drive devices in a manner that the self-propelled system heads do not interfere with one another on the travel track, the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads independently hold the components from the component supply device, the self-propelled system heads having the component holding members holding the components subsequently independently travel along the travel track, and the components held by the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads are independently mounted on the object positioned by the object positioning device of the object positioning section on the travel track.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the first aspect, wherein the travel track has at least one straight portion in the closed-loop along which the plurality of self-propelled system heads travel, the object positioning device is arranged in the straight portion of the travel track, the object is positioned by the object positioning device of the object positioning section, and the components are independently mounted on the positioned object by the component holding members of each of the self-propelled system heads.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the first aspect, wherein the travel track has at least one straight portion in the closed-loop along which the plurality of self-propelled system heads travel, the component supply section is arranged in the straight portion of the travel track, and the components supplied from the component supply device of the component supply section are independently held by the component holding members of each of the self-propelled system heads.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the first or second aspect, wherein the travel track has another second straight portion, the component supply section is arranged in the second straight portion, and the components supplied from the component supply device of the component supply section are independently held by the component holding members of each of the self-propelled system heads.
According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in any one of the first through fourth aspects, wherein a first head of the plurality of self-propelled system heads is positioned in the component supply section of the travel track, and a second head of the plurality of self-propelled system heads is positioned in the object positioning section of the travel track concurrently with the holding of the component to be mounted on the object from the component supply device by the component holding member of the first head and mounts a component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of the second head on the object positioned by the object positioning device.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in any one of the first through fifth aspects, further comprising: a component recognizing device that is arranged between the component supply section and the object positioning section of the travel track and recognizes a posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head, whereby each head holds the component that is received from the component supply device and is to be mounted on the object by the component holding member of the head and subsequently travels along the travel track toward the object positioning device, the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head in a position in which the component recognizing device is arranged along the travel track during the travel, the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head is mounted on the object positioned by the object positioning device after completing recognition, and the posture of the component is controlled on the basis of a component recognition result obtained by the component recognizing device while the head is traveling toward the object positioning device after completing recognition or immediately before the mounting on the object.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in any one of the first through sixth aspects, wherein the travel track is constructed of a rail that has both side surfaces protruding roughly in a triangular shape, and each head traveling along the travel track has wheels having curved convex surfaces capable of sliding in point contact with approximately triangular protrusions located on both sides of the rail.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method comprising: independently circulating a plurality of self-propelled system heads each of which has a component holding member capable of holding a component to be mounted on an object to be mounted and has a self-propelling drive device on a closed-loop travel track by controlling each of the drive devices so that the self-propelled system heads do not interfere with one another; independently receiving the components from a component supply device arranged in a component supply section of the travel track and holding the components by the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads; subsequently making the self-propelled system heads that have the component holding members holding the components independently travel along the travel track; and independently mounting the components held by the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads on the object positioned by an object positioning device arranged in an object positioning section of the travel track.
According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the eighth aspect, wherein the object is positioned by the object positioning device of the object positioning section arranged in at least one straight portion provided for the closed-loop of the travel track, and the components are independently mounted on the positioned object by the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads.
According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the eighth aspect, wherein the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads independently hold the components supplied from the component supply device of the component supply section arranged in at least one straight portion provided for the closed-loop of the travel track.
According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the eighth or ninth aspect, wherein the component holding members of the self-propelled system heads independently hold the components supplied from the component supply device of the component supply section arranged in another second straight portion provided for the closed-loop of the travel track.
According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in any one of the eighth through eleventh aspects, wherein a first head of the plurality of self-propelled system heads is positioned in the component supply section of the travel track, and a second head of the plurality of self-propelled system heads is positioned in the object positioning section of the travel track concurrently with the holding of the component to be mounted on the object from the component supply device by the component holding member of the first head and mounts a component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of the second head on the object positioned by the object positioning device.
According to a thirteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in any one of the eighth through twelfth aspects, wherein each head holds the component that is received from the component supply device and is to be mounted on the object by the component holding member of the head and subsequently travels along the travel track toward the object positioning device, the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head in a position in which a component recognizing device is arranged between the component supply section and the object positioning section of the travel track during the travel, the head travels along the travel track toward the object positioning device after completing recognition to mount the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head on the object positioned by the object positioning device, and the posture of the component is controlled on the basis of a component recognition result obtained by the component recognizing device while the head is traveling toward the object positioning device after completing recognition or immediately before the mounting on the object.
According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the sixth aspect, wherein each of the heads is switched over from high-speed travel to low-speed travel before a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged, and the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head while each head is traveling at low speed.
According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the sixth aspect, wherein the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head without speed change within an interval between a point located before a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged and a point beyond the position in which the component recognizing device is arranged.
According to a sixteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the sixth aspect, wherein each of the heads temporarily stops in a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged, and the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head.
According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in the first aspect, wherein the travel track has an arbitrary closed-loop shape, and the component supply section and the object positioning section are arranged in arbitrary positions of the travel track.
According to an eighteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the thirteenth aspect, wherein each of the heads is switched over from high-speed travel to low-speed travel before a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged, and the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by each component holding member of each head while each head is traveling at low speed.
According to a nineteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the thirteenth aspect, wherein the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by the component holding member of each head without speed change within an interval between a point located before a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged and a point beyond the position in which the component recognizing device is arranged.
According to a twentieth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in the thirteenth aspect, wherein each of the heads temporarily stops in a position in which the component recognizing device of the travel track is arranged, and the component recognizing device recognizes the posture of the component that has been received from the component supply device and held by each component holding member of each head.
According to a twenty-first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting apparatus as mentioned in any one of the first through seventh aspects and fourteenth through seventeenth aspects, wherein a plurality of object positioning devices are arranged along the travel track, the plurality of heads are provided with a plurality of component holding members, components received from the component supply device are held by a first component holding member and a second component holding member out of the plurality of component holding members, the component held by the first component holding member is mounted on a board positioned by a first object positioning device out of the plurality of object positioning devices, and the component held by the second component holding member is mounted on a board positioned by a second object positioning device out of the plurality of object positioning devices.
According to a twenty-second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a component mounting method as mentioned in any one of the eighth through thirteenth aspects, eighteenth aspect and nineteenth aspect, wherein the components received from the component supply device are held by a first component holding member and a second component holding member out of the plurality of component holding members provided for the plurality of heads, the component held by the first component holding member is mounted on a board positioned by a first object positioning device out of the plurality of object positioning devices provided along the travel track, and the component held by the second component holding member is mounted on a board positioned by a second object positioning device out of the plurality of object positioning devices.